"FINN'S COOL, ARTIE'S COOL, I'M COOL!"

TESSA SWANN was stood at her locker, quietly helping Noah Puckerman with his European geography homework when they were ambushed by Jacob Ben Israel pushing his camera right into their faces.

"Noah Puckerman! Two words for you: what happened?" He began persistently.

Shoving the camera straight out of Tessa's face, Puck gave the boy his best death stare as he replied, "excuse me?"

"Isn't it obvious? Gone from Quinn Fabray to...to..." Jacob seemed to be struggling to find the correct words as he eyed Tessa up and down, taking in her messy ponytail and oversized hoodie, "to her."

Furrowing his eyebrows as he noticed Tessa biting her lip, Puck put an arm over her shoulder proudly, "Tess is cool." He insisted, "and she has a nice butt so..."

"Wow, thanks babe." She replied sarcastically.

Jacob's eyes went wide with excitement, "can we have confirmation of this fact Tessa?"

Swatting his hand away angrily, Tessa turned red and tried to hide away from his longing gaze, "get the hell away from me you creep!"

Growing irritated as he refused to move, Puck scowled protectively, "you heard her, beat it!"

"Just one more question for my viewers, for Tess," Jacob insisted, unapologetically pushing his microphone underneath Tessa's nose for answers, "do you actually like Mr Puckerman over here?"

"Of course." Tessa answered, making quick eye contact with her boyfriend.

"Not still pining over Matt Rutherford?" Jacob pushed, making Tessa take a sharp intake of breathe at the mention of her ex-boyfriend. Noticing her silence, Jacob wiggled his eyebrows, triumphantly, "I guess I'll take that as a yes."

"Dude." Puck intervened, "not cool."

"You can talk. You're obviously still in love with Miss Quinn Fabray."

Pushing the camera right away from them both, Tessa racked her brain for anything Santana Lopez had taught her and stared Jacob right in the eye, "we like each other, okay? Now get out of our faces before I slap your face in."

Without another word, Tessa groaned loudly, taking Puck's hand and pulling him down the corridor, away from Jacob and his cameras. Smirking, Puck swung their hands back and forth, "that was actually pretty hot."

"Ugh, keep it in your pants, Puckerman." Santana scoffed, instantly squeezing her way in between the couple, linking her arm in Tessa's and giving him a wave as she pulled her down the corridor away from him. Once they were far enough away, she turned to her best friend, with a disapproving look, "you're too good for him, you know."

"Puck's great." Tessa told her, casually.

"Puck's a man-whore."

Giving in with a small sigh, Tessa shrugged her shoulders, "okay, he's not perfect but he's been good to me so far."

"Emphasis on the so far." Santana chuckled, with a roll of her eyes. She held her hands up in surrender at Tessa's slight glare, turning on her heel and waking backwards in front of her, "fine! Fine! When he cheats on you though, I'll say I told you so before I beat him up."

Laughing after her, Tessa tutted, skipping off behind her as she made her way down the halls of Mckinley High School.

　　　　　　　 ☆

IN AN ATTEMPT TO RECRUIT MORE MEMBERS FOR THE GLEE CLUB, Mr Schuester had made the members of the New Directions New York T-shirt's and sent them out into the courtyard to perform a number he was sure would get the whole school wanting to join.

As usual, his plan backfired, and only two people seemed to have taken any sort of interest in the club. One of which, Finn was sure he could persuade to become glee club's newest member.

Tessa had enthusiastically agreed to join him in placing his flyers around the school, listening intensely as Artie tried to beg Finn into helping him out.

"I figured if Kurt's gay and he can do it, why can't I?" Artie justified himself.

Exchanging a strange glance with Finn, Tessa shook her head at the boy, "Being gay isn't a handicap Artie." She told him, a hint of disapproval in her voice.

"Besides, how do you play football in a wheelchair anyways?" Finn continued, raising his eyebrows.

"I have to get on that team." Artie pressed, his voice lowering to a melancholy grumble, "Tina dumped me for Mike Chang. They fell in love over the summer at Asian camp."

Before she could stop herself, a smile fell across Tessa's lips, "oh yeah! They're really cute together." Once she'd realised what she'd said, she widened her eyes quickly and held her hands up in surrender, "totally not cute! At all!"

"Totally not cute." Artie reiterated, firmly.

"Totally cute." Tessa whispered into Finn's side, as Artie continued to rant about the Asian camp where his love life fell apart.

Shaking his head in disbelief and the fear of being run over by Artie, Finn put a hand on his shoulder, "dude, I'm sympathetic for you, I just don't see you on the football team."

Eager to prove him wrong, Artie began to relay his plans out to the pair, "imagine, you were pushing me in this big hunk of metal down the field at full speed." He pitched, giving Finn a thinking moment, "the centrifugal force would be would be like a medieval bettering ram!"

"Dude, you'd be like a human cannonball!" Tessa exclaimed, excitement in her eyes.

"Awesome right?" Artie nodded, turning to Finn for approval.

"Totally," he agreed after a moment, making Artie beam at him excitedly, "so you'll help?"

Grabbing the handles of Artie's wheelchair, Finn nodded as he began to wheel him towards an unsuspecting blonde boy, "sure, but only if you help me first. I saw this kid tapping his foot along with our performance and he needs to join now." Noticing Tessa staring slightly, he smirked, "he's cute, right Tess?"

Flushing red, Tessa was quick to shoot him down, "I guess. Not as cute as you though!"

"Obviously. I'm the quarterback." He replied, confidently as they approached the boy's locker, "hey Sam!" He beamed, catching his attention, "I'm Finn Hudson and this is Artie Abrams and Tessa Swann."

Turning immediately to Tessa, Sam smiled at her, "Like Elizabeth Swann?"

"Exactly like Elizabeth Swann." Tessa beamed, ecstatic that he'd made the connection and putting on her best Keira Knightly impression, making Sam's eyes widen in excitement.

"You do impressions too?" He asked her, growing more amused by the girl by the second.

Shrugging her shoulders, Tessa gave him a small smile, "I try. Mainly Keira Knightly because you know...Swann."

Realizing that she probably didn't catch his name, the blonde boy stuck out his hand for her to shake, "I'm Sam."

"Sam-I-Am?" She quizzed, blushing at what she'd just said, avoiding Finn's smirk as he poked her side.

"Would you like green eggs and ham?" Sam replied, the grin growing on his rather large lips.

"No but we would like you to join glee club." Finn told him, breaking up their little conversation, and waving one of his fliers in front of him as he snapped his gaze away from Tessa.

"Glee club?" Sam repeated, "isn't that supposed to be kinda lame?"

"And quoting Dr Seuss isn't?" Artie questioned, under his breath.

Quick to defend himself, Sam pointed directly at Tessa, "okay, Tessa started that." He said out loud before turning to Tessa with a guilty smile, "I'm kidding it's totally cool."

Leaning his head in between the two of them, Finn slammed a hand down on each of their shoulders, "I'll tell you what's totally cool...me!"

"Wow you sound like Rachel." Tessa laughed, loudly, getting full agreement from Artie.

Frowning at her, Finn continued on, "I am cool though, very cool in fact actually Tess, I'm the quarterback. And I'm in the glee club, which means the glee club is cool."

"O-okay." Sam answered, nervously.

Seeing his lack of understanding, Tessa shrugged her shoulders and pointed to each other her friends, "Finn's cool, Artie's cool, I'm cool! You can be cool too!"

"That's...cool." Sam said after a pause, a goofy smile appearing on his lips, "do I have to audition or anything?"

Mentally punching the air, Finn's grin grew as he wrapped an arm around Sam's shoulders, "yeah, but we'll just get the glee guys to meet us in the choir room." Seeing her pout, Finn reached out to ruffle Tessa's hair playfully, "you can come too Tess."

"You're practically one of the guys." Artie shrugged, approvingly as she grabbed onto his handlebars and wheeled him towards the choir room, "you're probably closer to getting on the football team than I am."

Watching as Sam chuckled at her lightly, Tessa began to feel her cheeks flushing. Shaking this away, she focused on a conversation with Artie as Finn pulled Sam in front of them, immersing himself in getting this new boy to join. Looking over his shoulder to give her a playful grin, Artie wiggled his eyebrows, "what happened then? You went all girly."

"I don't know, man. I was possessed?"

"Puckerman finally being replaced?" Artie joked, quietly.

Slapping his shoulder, Tessa gave him a small glare, "no, Puckerman's not being replaced, Artie. I just like it when people appreciate Keira Knightly and Dr Seuss."

"You're a dork." He chuckled as Mike and Puck collided with them, earning themselves harsh slaps on their arms from Tessa.

Throwing herself down in a seat in between Puck and Finn, Tessa quickly shot him a thumbs up of encouragement before Finn took charge of the meeting, "so Sam, tell us about yourself."

Seemingly intimidated by the five pairs of eyes staring back at him, Sam fidgeted slightly as he spoke, "my name's Sam Evans, I like comic books, sports. I'm dyslexic, so my grades aren't that good but I'm working on it."

Whilst the rest of the group smiled at his introduction, something else had caught Puck's attention as he started directly at Sam, head tilted on his side, "dude, your mouth is huge. How many tennis balls can you fit in there?"

Furrowing his eyebrows in slight confusion, Sam shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno, I've never had any balls in my mouth, have you?"

Upon hearing his comeback, Tessa widened her eyes in amusement and sat forward in her seat, clapping, "you're brilliant!" She called out, admiringly.

"I like this kid." Finn said, immediately, leaning in towards Artie, to which he immediately agreed, "I like his confidence."

Removing his arm from around Tessa's shoulders, Puck got up from his seat and made his way to pick up his guitar, "can you sing with that big mouth?"

"I've never really sung in front of anyone else before." Sam admitted, growing nervous as everyone gathered around him, picking up their instruments.

"Dude, let me tell you, chicks dig singers." Puck encouraged, handing Sam his guitar.

"Totally!" Tessa nodded, enthusiastically, in hopes of instilling some confidence in the boy.

Laughing, Mike came up behind her, shaking her shoulders lightly, "I mean, how else would Puckerman have gotten Tess to go out with him?"

"Magic." Finn chuckled, settling behind the drum kit, and giving Sam a smile of encouragement, "we'll back you up dude, don't worry. What song you got in your back pocket?"

"Uh — billionaire?" Sam suggested.

Nodding in approval, the group started up the music and widened their eyes in excitement as Sam began to sing, amazingly.

Holding out his hand, Mike raised his eyebrows to ask Tessa to dance with him. Taking his hand dramatically, she giggled, goofing off with her friends as she made a new one.

　　　　　　　　☆

NEITHER OF THE TWO HOPEFULS FOR GLEE CLUB HAD SHOWN UP AND IT WAS THE FAULT OF RACHEL BERRY. For some reason unknown to Tessa, she thought it had been a good idea to send Sunshine Corazon to a crackhouse.

Sighing loudly after listening to a long-winded explanation from Rachel, Tessa slammed her back against the set of lockers besides Finn, "your girlfriend is insane, Finn."

"Tell me about it," he chuckled, looking around in terror, "don't tell her I said that,"

"I dunno, Finn, I have Rachel Berry on speed dial." Tessa teased him, pulling out her phone, only for it to be whipped out of her hand immediately.

"I'll send you to a crackhouse!" He threatened, although his serious expression didn't last long as a giddy smile emerged on his lip. Letting his arm slack back down, Finn decided to look at the texts that were on Tessa's phone, smirking to himself as he read them, "two texts from Sam-Evans-smiley-face!" He grinned, excitedly.

"It's probably a vine of him doing an impression." She told him, casually, "I'll send him one back later."

Wiggling his eyebrows, Finn was already heavily invested in this growing friendship and was quick to poke Tessa's sides repeatedly, "let's also do an impression of dumping Puck for said Sam-Evans-smiley-face!"

"I like Puck, okay? He may not be the most romantic person in the world but he tries." Tessa defended her boyfriend, furrowing her eyebrows after a pause, "I think?"

Holding his hands up in surrender, Finn gave in, "if you say so, Tess. But consider it! Maybe then he'd dump being quarterback and join glee club."

"You're just jealous that I'm cooler than you now." Tessa joked, poking his sides.

"I'm just a glee loser now." He grumbled in response.

Quick to fill him with confidence, Tessa frowned, "hey, you may be a glee loser now, but we're losers together, okay?"

Just at that moment, Karofsky and Azimio strutted past them, throwing two slushies right in their faces, "that's right you are!" Karofsky laughed, cruelly.

Turning to her as they both wiped their eyes, Finn attempted a frown through the ice cold slushy that was dripping down his face, "dammit Tessa! You have to jinx us like that?"

"Sorry!" She hissed, licking her lips and blinking furiously so she was able to see the figure stood in front of her. Noticing that it was Sam, she offered him a weak smile as she screwed her face up.

"Hi." He announced his presence, awkwardly, "I just came over to apologise about not joining glee club but I can go if now isn't a good time." He managed to blurt out.

"No it's okay, we're used to it." Tessa laughed, "it's totally fine, we get it, being the new kid is hard."

Nodding in thanks, Sam looked around for anything to help the two dripping people in front of him, "you need a towel or anything?"

Reaching straight into his locker, Finn held up two towels before tossing one to Tessa, "we come prepared."

Wiping the slushy away from her face, Tessa let a small laugh escape her lips, "when you're the coolest quarterback in school, promise me you won't slushy any of us? That crap stings."

Beaming back at her, Sam reached out and brushed a lump of ice off her shoulder gently, "promise."

"Awesome." She smiled genuinely, "now if you'll excuse us, we kinda need to clean ourselves up."

Widening his eyes, he gave them a single nod, stepping out of the way, "of course. I'll see you around yeah?"

"Yeah." Tessa grinned, motioning for Finn to follow her into the girls bathrooms.

After a moment, Sam whipped round and called after them, "guys?" He instantly caught their attention, with a giddy smile, "I really did wanna join. You guys are really cool."

Saying nothing, Tessa simply smiled at him before getting dragged off by an impatient Finn Hudson to clean themselves up after their first slushy of the year.